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Beijing to Build Internationall Food Street

A dramatic plan to build a 50,000-square-metre international food street beside the Olympics Park (Aolinpike Gongyuan) has won the support of Beijing Municipality.

The food venue is scheduled for completion before the start of the 2008 Olympic Games, with restaurants offering dishes from all over the world.

"It will serve as both a support facility for the Olympics and a tourist attraction," said Jiang Huabo, director of the executive committee of the Second Beijing Western-style Food Cultural Festival scheduled for July 25 to August 24.

Statistics from the association indicate that there are 3,600 western-style food restaurants in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, and more than 1,600 in East China's Shanghai Municipality, while Beijing has only 600.

The organizing committee of the Second Beijing Western-style Food Cultural Festival has asked more than 160 foreign embassies and 19 United Nations agencies in Beijing to help invite businesses from their countries to come here and open food stores. Many enterprises, both overseas and domestic, have expressed interest in the programme, said Chen Liqun, also a director of the organizing committee.